Since talking to Trixie, we decided that we had to be much more subtle in how we navigated the house. Patsy thought that Trixie would try to find her if she woke up to an empty bed but she never did. She must have decided that Patsy needed to be alone.
* * *
We ventured out for a walk in the park on our evening off. It was positively freezing but then again it was a clear November night. We were both bundled up in so many layers that all I could see of my beautiful Patsy was her eyes, sparkling in the moonlight. I reached into the picnic basket that Sister Winifred had insisted we take and pulled out two sausage rolls, still faintly steaming, and a flask of hot tea with two cups. Pasty gave a relieved sigh as she bit into the pastry and a small shriek as she started to bite into the hot meat inside. This kept us entertained for the next ten minutes or so, imitating her shriek whenever our laughter died away.
The tea was soothing against my cold lips and I savoured it until it was almost cold. Surely this was happiness.